CharlieMary

Char­li­e­Ma­ry’s coll­ec­tions are both sus­tainable and ethi­cal. The brand col­la­bo­ra­tes with a small num­ber of manu­fac­tu­r­ers who offer safe and plea­sant working con­di­ti­ons to their employees. This per­ma­nent col­la­bo­ra­ti­on gives Char­li­e­Ma­ry more con­trol over production.

For part of their pro­duc­tion, Char­li­e­Ma­ry col­la­bo­ra­tes with Makers Unite. This is a stu­dio in Ams­ter­dam that com­bi­nes sus­tainable pro­duc­tion with social employ­ment. Through this orga­ni­sa­ti­on, peo­p­le who have emi­gra­ted to the Net­her­lands can easi­ly find work in the tex­ti­le and fashion sector.

Ano­ther Dutch orga­ni­sa­ti­on Char­li­e­Ma­ry works with is Loop A Life. This Dutch com­pa­ny pro­ces­ses post-con­su­mer mate­ri­als into new yarn and fabric. A Por­tu­gue­se manu­fac­tu­rer then pro­du­ces the clothes.

The Euro­pean Uni­on has strict labour rules and laws. This leads us to assu­me that CharlieMary’s pro­duc­tion takes place in fair and safe working con­di­ti­ons.

Char­li­e­Ma­ry also works with a manu­fac­tu­rer in Tur­key, Kopen­hag Stu­dio. Kopen­hag Stu­dio works with five small, local work­shops. Here, main­ly dead­stock mate­ri­als are pro­ces­sed into new coll­ec­tions. This manu­fac­tu­rer also puts an empha­sis on ethi­cal pro­duc­tion in their work. By working with small local work­shops, Kopen­hag Stu­dio aims to pro­vi­de more tra­di­tio­nal craft­sman­ship employ­ment opportunities.

Char­li­e­Ma­ry’s coll­ec­tions are made enti­re­ly of recy­cled natu­ral mate­ri­als. This also ensu­res the clo­thes are com­ple­te­ly pla­s­tic-free! Natu­ral mate­ri­als are made from plants, such as cot­ton or linen, for exam­p­le. Char­li­e­Ma­ry also uses Ten­cel, which is a semi-natu­ral mate­ri­al due to the che­mi­cal pro­ces­sing it requi­res to be produced.

Char­li­e­Ma­ry uses dif­fe­rent mate­ri­als in their coll­ec­tions. It always sources the­se mate­ri­als in the vici­ni­ty of its pro­duc­tion sites. For exam­p­le, the clo­thes made in Tur­key are made from lef­to­ver fabrics from fashion hou­ses in the area. Dutch manu­fac­tu­rer Loop A Life pro­ces­ses was­te mate­ri­als that come from Euro­pe. This cuts down on the distances tra­vel­led by the mate­ri­als and redu­ces their car­bon footprint. 

Char­li­e­Ma­ry also takes mea­su­res to crea­te as litt­le was­te as pos­si­ble during their own pro­duc­tion. That’s why they work with digi­tal sys­tems in the design pha­se to redu­ce cut­ting waste.

Ano­ther manu­fac­tu­rer Char­li­e­Ma­ry works with is Ensche­de Tex­ti­le City. Here, fabrics are made from local­ly coll­ec­ted tex­ti­le scraps.

As dye­ing is one of the most pol­lu­ting steps in pro­duc­tion, both Ensche­de Textiel­stad and Loop A Life do not do this. The colour of the tex­ti­les comes from the recy­cled mate­ri­al in the yarn. This way, no che­mi­cals are nee­ded in production.

Char­li­e­Ma­ry is cir­cu­lar through and through! The brand uses only mate­ri­als that alre­a­dy exist. The­se include dead­stock mate­ri­als as well as post-con­su­mer tex­ti­le was­te. They also make sure the clo­thes are easy to recy­cle after use. Due to their coll­ec­tions being made from natu­ral mate­ri­als, they are easy to recy­cle and even biode­gra­da­ble, if the mate­ri­als don’t con­tain any chemicals. 

Char­li­e­Ma­ry is also com­mit­ted to using qua­li­ty mate­ri­als ensu­ring their clo­thes have lon­ger life­spans. They encou­ra­ge all cus­to­mers to take care of their purcha­ses and repair them when nee­ded. The brand also plans to launch a second-hand plat­form in the future to give Char­li­e­Ma­ry pro­ducts a new life.

Final­ly, Char­li­e­Ma­ry also has a take-back ser­vice. That means you can return your old Char­li­e­Ma­ry pro­ducts. This way, Char­li­e­Ma­ry can recy­cle your old pro­ducts in the best way possible.

Even their pack­a­ging is reusable. In col­la­bo­ra­ti­on with RePack, Char­li­e­Ma­ry has reusable pack­a­ging that you can return for free. This way, your online orders don’t con­tri­bu­te to the ship­ping box waste.

Even though Char­li­e­Ma­ry also works with a Tur­ki­sh pro­du­cer, most of the coll­ec­tion has a short sup­p­ly chain. The mate­ri­als come from Tur­key and Euro­pean count­ries such as the Net­her­lands, Por­tu­gal and France. The pro­ducts are made near whe­re the mate­ri­als come from, espe­ci­al­ly in the Net­her­lands, Por­tu­gal and Turkey.

Char­li­e­Ma­ry is com­mit­ted to using qua­li­ty mate­ri­als ensu­ring their clo­thes have lon­ger life­spans. The designs are sty­lish and tim­e­l­ess, gua­ran­te­e­ing the clo­thes will still be in fashion after 10 years.

As men­tio­ned ear­lier, Char­li­e­Ma­ry encou­ra­ges its cus­to­mers to take care of their purcha­ses and repair when nee­ded. In the future, Char­li­e­Ma­ry plans to offer pat­terns to turn your old purcha­ses into some­thing new. The brand also plans to launch a second-hand plat­form in the future to give Char­li­e­Ma­ry pro­ducts a new life.

Char­li­e­Ma­ry scores well in terms of trans­pa­ren­cy. The brand pro­vi­des a lot of infor­ma­ti­on about the pro­duc­tion part­ners they work with. The mate­ri­als’ coun­try of ori­gin is also given.